Despite presumably being in the production process for an Avatar sequel (of which we should expect four, sometime in the next century or so), James Cameron has apparently expressed interest in returning to the Terminator franchise.
With the 3D theatrical re-release of Terminator 2: Judgment Day set for August 25, Cameron revealed in an interview with News.com.au that he hopes to reimagine the franchise with (get this) a “three-film arc.” That is right — he doesn’t just want a regular old reboot; he wants to make a full-on trilogy.
Cameron is no stranger to sequels. T2 and Aliens are two of the most critically acclaimed follow-up films in history and the famed director clearly has big plans for the Avatar franchise, despite the 2009 epic breaking box office records nearly 10 years ago.
Still, with so much on his plate, it is difficult to see Cameron having time to produce Terminator and Avatar films simultaneously, given the massive scope of both franchises. Plus, it is not as if the Terminator series has languished for decades untouched. In the past 10 years, we saw two movies within the fiction: 2009’s Terminator: Salvation was widely panned by fans and critics after taking a more gritty approach, despite the involvement of big names like Christian Bale. While Cameron “didn’t hate it,” he also said that he would not return to the franchise.
In 2015, director Alan Taylor offered a more traditional reboot to the series in Terminator: Genisys, which received mixed reviews. Although Genisys did not perform particularly well — in fact, it grossed less worldwide than 1991’s Judgment Day (without even adjusting for inflation) — Cameron offered praise, claiming that it had “reinvigorated the franchise.”
The rights to the franchise are currently held by David Ellison, CEO and founder of Skydance Media, the primary producer of Genisys. Under U.S. copyright law, though, the rights will automatically revert to Cameron in early 2019; the two have had discussions regarding the potential for future Terminator films.
In January, Cameron had previously announced plans to make a reboot with director Tim Miller (Deadpool) and series star Arnold Schwarzenegger on board; it’s currently unclear whether either man will be involved with Cameron’s trilogy, or what role Cameron would play.
In the meantime, James Cameron will do what James Cameron does — namely, waffling on minor details and repeatedly delaying the Avatar sequels even further. For now, at least fans can explore Disney’s vision of Pandora in the World of Avatar park.
China just gave Hollywood a cautionary tale about AI filmmaking. Sanxingdui: Future Past, billed as the country's first fully AI-generated movie, hit theaters on October 23 and bombed at the box office.
According to Futurism, the film's reported $1.5 million production budget landed on more than 10,000 screens. Yet it pulled in only about $181,000, averaging roughly $20 per screen, making the budget difficult to recover.
Some of the best shots in Grok Imagine’s AI-made Odyssey don’t contain actors. Ancient landscapes stretch into the distance. Close-ups of grimy hands suggest people who have touched something rougher than a keyboard. For a few seconds, the illusion holds.
https://twitter.com/imagine/status/2113712964419063911
YouTube videos could soon look better without eating quite so much data, right? Thankfully, the platform plans to introduce a new video format called AV2 on its web player in early 2027, promising more efficient streaming and potentially fewer playback hiccups on slower internet connections. The big headline is a roughly 30% improvement in compression efficiency over AV1, YouTube's existing video format. That doesn't guarantee every video will use 30% less data, but it could make streaming a little easier on both internet connections and data allowances.
What is AV2, and why should viewers care?